Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Nkarta from “strong sell” to “sell,” while broader analyst coverage remains more favorable, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $10.75 target price.
• Nkarta shares opened at $2.09, with a market capitalization of approximately $149.5 million and a 52-week range of $1.70 to $3.72. The company reported a quarterly loss of $0.37 per share, beating estimates of a $0.39 loss.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds own approximately 80.54% of Nkarta. The clinical-stage biotech is developing off-the-shelf natural-killer-cell therapies, led by its NKX019 CAR-NK program for B-cell malignancies.

Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "strong sell" rating to a "sell" rating in a report issued on Sunday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on NKTX. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Nkarta in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Nkarta in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $11.00 price objective on shares of Nkarta in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Evercore set a $9.00 price objective on shares of Nkarta in a report on Monday, May 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Nkarta currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $10.75.

Nkarta Stock Performance

Shares of NKTX stock opened at $2.09 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $149.52 million, a PE ratio of -1.56 and a beta of 0.90. Nkarta has a 52 week low of $1.70 and a 52 week high of $3.72. The stock's fifty day moving average is $2.77 and its 200-day moving average is $2.57.

Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The company reported ($0.37) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.39) by $0.02. As a group, analysts forecast that Nkarta will post -1.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nkarta

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GSK plc bought a new stake in shares of Nkarta during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,829,000. Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in Nkarta by 118.7% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 134,286 shares of the company's stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 852,559 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new position in Nkarta during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,549,000. Monaco Asset Management SAM lifted its stake in Nkarta by 29.2% during the fourth quarter. Monaco Asset Management SAM now owns 2,546,932 shares of the company's stock worth $4,712,000 after purchasing an additional 576,022 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Nkarta by 48.6% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,702,022 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,149,000 after purchasing an additional 556,945 shares in the last quarter. 80.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Nkarta

Nkarta, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company specializing in the development of off-the-shelf natural killer (NK) cell therapies for the treatment of cancer. Leveraging proprietary activation and expansion technologies, Nkarta aims to harness the innate tumor-killing properties of NK cells while incorporating targeted immuno-engineering approaches to enhance safety, potency and persistence in patients. The company's platform supports both allogeneic cell manufacturing and genetic modifications to generate chimeric antigen receptor-expressing NK cell candidates designed to address a range of hematologic and solid tumors.

Nkarta's lead program, NKX019, is an anti-CD19 CAR-NK cell therapy in early-phase clinical trials for relapsed or refractory B-cell malignancies.

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